Scudamore believes £200m-plus transfer deals will not happen in English football

Premier League chief Richard Scudamore does not expect to see any transfers in English football matching the £200.6 million world record fee paid by Paris St Germain to sign Neymar from Barcelona.

Scudamore regards the move that made Neymar the most expensive footballer of all time last week as a demonstration of spending power by the Ligue 1 club’s Qatari owners that is unlikely to be repeated on the same scale.

“I can’t see anything like that (in the Premier League),” Scudamore told BBC Radio 5 live. “When the previous record was £89 million (Paul Pogba), to suddenly go to £200 million that’s something else going on there.

Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the Premier League during the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London (Mike Egerton/PA

“That’s the owners of Paris St Germain and the Qataris deciding that they want to make a statement and they’ve made a huge statement but I don’t think we’re going to see that replicated and, in some ways, I’m glad it’s not the Premier League holding that particular record.”

Ahead of the new Premier League season, which gets under way with the match between Arsenal and Leicester on Friday night, executive chairman Scudamore said he believes the transfer fees being paid out by Premier League clubs are sustainable.

Blow for Arsenal as Arsene Wenger reveals Alexis Sanchez will miss first two Premier League games with an abdominal strain #AFCpic.twitter.com/ZJbrjwpfCV

“Of course you can’t pay £200 million for every player, you can’t pay every player the top wages. But the way the regulations work, people have to work within their means generally and that’s been happening.

“The salaries are sustainable within the way the finances of the game are now run, certainly in the Premier League. The game has always spent what it generates and that gets reinvested back – mainly in playing talent but also in stadia developments and stadium improvements – so I am confident the clubs are sustainable.”

Scudamore believes an increasing number of clubs in the top flight have the ability to be crowned champions with Leicester’s remarkable title-winning season of 2015-16 acting as an inspiration.

“I’ve been around for a long time – 19 years doing this – and when I started Manchester United won it three times in a row. Man United have been that definitive club in terms of that first 25 years of the league but now, of course, there are more clubs that can win it.

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“The more clubs that can, makes it more exciting and more interesting and Leicester gave the whole thing a boost really because it just suddenly widened the teams you might talk about as potential teams for winning the league. It does mean there are 10, 12, 14 teams potentially capable of winning the league – although probably the bookmakers don’t quite see it that way.

“It’s fantastic for Leicester to come along (and win the league). People say it’s a once in 100 years, it might be a once in 10 years, it may be a once in five years. We don’t really know. Each club now has a capability through the finances of the league to put together a very decent squad.

“All 20 of out clubs will be probably in the top 30-35 worldwide clubs in terms of revenue and therefore they can all put good squads together and compete on match day.”